1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus with a display, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus with improved operability.
2. Description of the Background Art
In recent years, portable information terminals such as smart phones have been sophisticated, and people own portable information terminals instead of PCs (Personal Computers). Portable information terminals allow users to view and edit electronic documents freely at any place. Portable information terminals have been used in various business and daily situations.
With sophistication of portable information terminals, there is a demand for cooperation between an image forming apparatus and a portable information terminal in an image forming system including the image forming apparatus and the portable information terminal.
In order to meet the above-noted demand, a technique of remotely operating an image forming apparatus with a portable information terminal connected to the image forming apparatus via a network is proposed. In this technique, the image forming apparatus transmits the same operation screen as the operation screen appearing on the operation panel of the image forming apparatus, to the portable information terminal. The portable information terminal then displays the received operation screen and accepts operation from a user. The portable information terminal accepting the operation from the user sends information of the operation to the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus performs a process based on the received information of the operation and transmits information of an updated screen associated with the process to the terminal.
A conventional technique concerning cooperation between an image forming apparatus and a portable information terminal is disclosed, for example, in Document 1 below. Document 1 below discloses a technique in which image data transmitted by radio from a mobile phone is printed, wherein when setting data including conditions for printing is not received from the mobile phone, default print conditions stored in a default print setting storage unit are set.    [Document 1] Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-020101
It is assumed that a user of a portable information terminal intends to print a file such as a document saved in the portable information terminal with an image forming apparatus. In this situation, the user cannot give an instruction to print the file from the portable information terminal to the image forming apparatus because data to be printed is present outside the image forming apparatus. The user therefore allows the portable information terminal to activate a general print application (hereinafter also referred to as a print app) installed in the portable information terminal and uses the print app to, for example, make print settings, give a print instruction, and select a file to be printed. The portable information terminal transmits a print execution instruction, print settings, and a file to be printed to the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus then prints the received file with the print settings received from the portable information terminal.
However, the print app is not an application for any specific image forming apparatus, and its screen structure including operation keys and display items differs from that of the operation screen displayed on the operation panel of the image forming apparatus. Therefore, the user accustomed to operating the operation panel of the image forming apparatus often has difficulty in finding where the item that the user wants to set is displayed, even looking at the screen of the print app. The user therefore cannot operate the screen of the print app with the same feeling as in the operation panel. The operability is thus poor.
The operation panel of the image forming apparatus allows various settings, whereas the print app allows only general settings for printing. Specifically, for example, the print app allows settings such as single-sided/double-sided print, color, number of copies, and sort/non-sort, but does not allow settings such as N-in-1, density, stapling, punching, fold, and watermark. With the print app, the settings that can be made in the image forming apparatus cannot be fully utilized, and the operability is poor.